Ethical Standards in the Public Relations Industry

First-rate PR is always solidly rooted in fact. Anything less is not public relations; it’s propaganda. Sure, every profession has bad actors; however, ethical behavior is inherently required in the practice of public relations. By the nature of the profession, PR pros are morally bound to act ethically.

Over the years, we have referenced ethics in many of our blog articles, and at least once per year, we devote an entire article to the topic of ethics. Why? Most public relations organizations have designated September as PR ethics month to promote ethics and remind PR pros of their obligation to act ethically. These articles reference at least a few of the ‘ethics codes’ of PR industry associations in the US and UK.

• Ethics in Public Relations – discussed PR professional values, unethical communication behaviors, and the unethical practice of ‘greenwashing.’
• Why Ethics Matters in Public Relations – challenged the pop culture image of PR, discussed PR’s reputation problem and the five ethical pillars of ethical decision-making.
• Ethics in PR Matters—Especially Now – discussed the connection between ethics and trust, backed by data from the Edelman Trust Barometer and USC Annenberg’s Global Communications report on the evolution of ethics.

This year, I am taking a different tack and sharing some recent research into how global PR trade bodies promote ethical behavior and handle unethical practices. It’s interesting and noteworthy to see how it applies in different countries with different laws, legal practices, codes, and regulations.

State of Ethics Codes in the PR Industry

The London-based Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) released The State of Ethics Codes in the Public Relations Industry: A Global Analysis, which includes analyses of published ethics codes from 24 PR member associations based in a diverse range of nations and cultures on six continents worldwide.

Intending to raise global ethical standards in PR associations, the purpose of this research project was to identify – based on pre-established criteria by the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) Global Ethics Council and the IBE — points of disparity and points of uniformity of PR ethics codes around the world. *A grant from PR veteran Mary Beth West, APR, FPRCA, fully funded the study.

The Institute of Business Ethics incorporated nearly 50 individual criteria points and categorized its PR industry code analysis under various headings. You can download the subsequent white paper and see the complete list of evaluation criteria here. There, you will also find the associations reviewed, the methodology, the analysis structure, and the report’s premise.

The full report white paper is 40 pages long and laden with findings, charts, graphs, and recommendations you can review. Here are just a few of the discoveries that stood out to me:

➢ The IBE found all the associations reviewed offer published codes of ethics that include “honesty” and “accuracy” stipulations. It’s worth noting that 83% could opt to take new, specific measures toward demonstrating “strong elements of good practice” in codifying ethical tenets.

➢ IBE’s analysis of the published ethics codes from 24 PR member associations worldwide found that 54% had significant room for improvement and were ‘ripe for review,’ according to IBE’s LinkedIn post.

➢ The IBE made several recommendations for best practices, including:

• Making the codes more intuitive to locate and read.
• Including a declaration of principles or values at the beginning of the code.
• Writing the rules and providing guidance in a positive, inclusive, and clear (non-legalese) manner.
• Providing examples of ethical challenges and how to address them.
• Enforcing the codes consistently and fairly.
• Updating codes of ethics every three years – and dated accordingly.

The IBE also recommends that PR associations have clear and transparent policies on whistleblowing and anti-retaliation. Also recommended is to provide “speak up channels” where members can discuss ethical issues as they encounter them.

Ethical decision-making

After reviewing some of the organizations on my own, I found the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) offers an excellent tool for ethical decision-making. It’s the CPRS Code of Professional Standards Decision Tree (modeled after a similar one created by CIPR, the UK’s Chartered Institute of Public Relations).

Another great resource for ethical decision-making is the Ethical Voices blog and podcast by Mark McClennan, APR, Fellow PRSA. On his ‘about’ page, he states, “As PR professionals, we are the ethics guardians of our organizations. We regularly face difficult ethical choices. Too often media and TV do not portray us accurately.”

Mark continues, “PRSA and other Associations have codes of ethics, but too often the provisions are too high level or black and white. Many professors are doing great research in this area, but we need more practical advice as well.”

To that end, Mark does a weekly podcast (and blog) with “ethical challenges faced by real communications professionals.” Mark served as the PRSA National Chair in 2016 and launched this venture in 2018 with an interview of Paula Pedene, APR, Fellow PRSA, author of A Sacred Duty: How a Whistleblower Took on the VA and Won.

To wrap it up

The IBE’s report is a valuable resource for PR professionals and associations. It provides insights into the current state of ethics codes in the PR industry and offers guidance on how to improve them. The report also highlights the importance of whistleblowing and anti-retaliation. These are essential mechanisms for ensuring that ethical concerns are raised and addressed.

The IBE’s recommendations are sound and should be taken seriously by PR associations. By following these recommendations, PR organizations can help create a culture of ethical behavior in the industry — and be an example for members and non-member PR pros.

I hope the PR trade bodies reviewed (and those that were not) by the IBE will take its recommendations seriously and make the necessary amendments to their codes of ethics. By doing so, they can help to ensure that the PR industry is a place where ethical behavior is the norm. I would go so far as to say that by doing so, they can help improve opinions and alter misconceptions of those outside the industry — beyond the pop culture stereotypes of ‘spin.’

*A version of this post by Tressa Robbins originally appeared on September 12, 2023, at https://burrelles.com/ethical-standards-in-the-public-relations-industry/ and is cross-posted here with permission. 

Ethics in Public Relations

In an ever-evolving industry like public relations, good ethics is the communications foundational building block that never changes. Why? One of the main functions of public relations is to build trust and credibility for a particular brand, organization or company. And ethics are paramount to earning trust.

Ethics are the standards of integrity that support a person’s moral choices in certain situations.

PR ethics month

Each year, PR professional organizations use the month of September to underscore ethics and remind PR pros of their pledges to act ethically.

As I’ve written previously, nearly every professional public relations and communications organization has ethical guidelines or codes of conduct — PRSA, PRCA, Institute for PR, Page Society, ICCO — similar to the journalism code of ethics and most other industry associations. Some organizations even hold the power to expel members who are found violating this code.

PRCA ethics: In the UK, PRCA successfully expelled Bell Pottinger five years ago for “stirring racial hatred in South Africa.” PRCA Director General Francis Ingham recently commented on the topic. “It was a defining moment for us. It proved that our code has teeth, that it is enforced and that it does have serious consequences if you breach it. More importantly, it was a defining moment for the PR industry. It began a conversation about ethics and an acknowledgment that ethical standards need to rise year on year all around the world.”

This year, the PRCA Global Ethics Council launched a global PR ethics survey in partnership with Ethics & Compliance Initiative (ECI). They aim to examine and understand the current state of ethics and compliance in PR and communications worldwide. The survey (found here) closes on September 30.

PRSA ethics: PRSA’s Code of Ethics serves to clearly identify “improper public relations practices” and educate members. However, as a volunteer organization, PRSA’s enforcement authority is limited and does not hold sanctioning power. Still, the PRSA Board of Directors “retains the right to bar from membership or expel from the Society any individual who has been or is sanctioned by a government agency or convicted in a court of law of an action that fails to comply with the Code.”

PRSA does a great job of educating its members through ongoing professional development webinars, events, and sections. PRSA’s Board of Ethics and Professional Standards (BEPS) has published 10 position papers and 17 ethical standards advisories. They also launched an Ethics Quiz (only available to members). All can be found online in the Ethics section of PRSA’s website.

Circling back to the Bell Pottinger case study,’ PR Week published an article by Tony Langham (Larsons co-founder) on whether a situation like this could happen again. Tony is convinced it won’t be the last firm to go out this way. He said this could be avoided simply by “not doing evil, having effective central controls, being financially strong and having united management with a moral compass.” Easier said than done.

*Disclosure: I am a member of both PRSA and PRCA.

PR ethics (professional values)

Most PR practitioners in the US look to PRSA’s code of ethics to guide our behaviors and our decision-making. The six core professional values in PR are:

1. Honesty: Providing accurate and truthful information — the foundation of earning public trust.
2. Advocacy: Providing views from different sides and/or people and all relevant facts so people can make informed decisions.
3. Independence: Taking responsibility for your own actions; providing objective counsel.
4. Expertise: Acquiring knowledge and using critical thinking to maintain credibility as an expert and earn a trusting relationship between those you represent and the public.
5. Loyalty: Respect and maintain loyalty to those you counsel and represent (but not at the expense of the public interest).
6. Fairness: Respecting and considering all views and opinions.

We often say words matter (and they do), and public communication can be powerful and influential, so those communicating need these ethical boundaries. Just as public relations can influence and build positive relationships and reputation, unethical communication can erode public trust and potentially create a crisis situation.

Unethical communication behaviors

According to Redding’s (1996) typology of unethical communications, there are six general categories of unethical communication:

1. Coercive: Behavior reflecting abuse of power. For example, intolerance or refusal to listen to others’ opinions, freedom of speech constraints, quashing dissenting discussions.
2. Destructive: Aggressive or misuse of information to make others feel inferior. This includes things like derogatory insinuations, epithets, distasteful jokes, character assassination.
3. Deceptive: Dishonest and misleading messages. For example, euphemisms intended to obscure defects or deeds, deliberate ambiguity, weaponizing truth, concealing or covering up displeasing facts.
4. Intrusive: Communication that invades or denies others’ rights to privacy. This includes listening to others’ phone messages, reading someone else’s files, employer surveillance of workers, and other forms of corporate intrusion. This could also include engaging in corporate espionage.
5. Secretive: Nonverbal communication. For example, intentional unresponsiveness, manipulating a message to skew how the reader interprets it, culpable silence (purposefully preventing information from being given).
6. Manipulative: Communicating without concern for the public interest or otherwise preventing the receiver from knowing the actual intentions behind a message. This includes demagoguery (exploiting people’s fears, ignorance or prejudices for gain) or using a patronizing or condescending tone.

In many ways, these unethical communicative behaviors overlap and can build on one another.

Greenwashing: Ethics lesson

The question of whether an ethical PR pro or agency can represent a company or entity that engages in unethical behavior has long been discussed. The general consensus is yes, as long as the practitioner or firm themselves employs ethical practices.

PR firms have been chastised for representing those in the tobacco and fossil fuels industries for years. With tobacco, it was about the health-related harm smoking does. Whereas today, for both sectors (and the fast-fashion industry), it’s about “greenwashing.” In case you aren’t familiar, greenwashing is “the act or practice of making a product, policy, activity, etc. appear to be more environmentally friendly or less environmentally damaging than it really is,” according to Merriam-Webster.

Just for the record, greenwashing is unethical. The practice, by definition, exhibits coercive, deceptive and manipulative tactics — all of which are included in Redding’s categories of unethical behavior.

You’ve probably run across some of the news and industry reports specific to “Big Oil” and PR (and advertising) firms lately. The Washington Post published a piece last year about how Big Oil relies on PR firms to help block climate action. The article was based on a peer-reviewed paper by Brown University researchers. The paper identifies the actions taken by major PR firms Burson Cohn & Wolfe and Ogilvy; however, it saved Edelman for its most scathing criticism. To his credit, CEO Richard Edelman spoke to Axios shortly afterward, saying he is proud of their work with “oil majors” as they transition toward renewable energy.

More recently (last week), the big news was the congressional hearing on “The Role of Public Relations Firms in Preventing Action on Climate Change.” Following the hearing, Reuters reported, “witness Christine Arena, a former Edelman PR executive who now works in social impact filmmaking, told the hearing that PR firm campaigns on behalf of oil companies no longer deny climate change.”

PR News, O’Dwyer’s, PR Week, and a slew of other PR/comms industry publications also reported on the hearing for obvious reasons.

I haven’t had time to read the entire 116-page report published by the House Natural Resources Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. Yet, in perusing the first few pages, it seems damning. *Note the report itself is only 16 pages, but there is a lot of documentation — including an agency-submitted PR award application for an ExxonMobil campaign. You can watch the recorded hearing livestream on YouTube.

This is a great lesson accentuating the adage, “Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching.”

[Source]

Ethical voices

I’m sure there are others, but my favorite ethics lessons come from Mark McClennan’s EthicalVoices® blog and podcast. Each week he interviews communications professionals who share ethical challenges they’ve faced. Mark also publishes a “this week in PR ethics” column where he shares a series of other communications and PR ethics stories.

There’s one in particular that piqued my interest recently. It’s an article from Catholic Outlook on the Pope’s opinion on ethics and digital media. Pope Francis said, “Communication is not just a profession, but a service to dialogue and understanding between individuals and larger communities in the pursuit of a serene and peaceful coexistence.” Mark added, “All it is missing are the keywords mutually beneficial relationship between an organization and its publics….”

Conclusion

Ethics should be a matter of course for all communications. This includes, but is not limited to, press releases, media relations activities, social media, marketing communications, employee communications, emails, blogs — even the images you choose to accompany your communiqués.

Bottom line? Be truthful and respectful. Watch your tone. Be considerate and inclusive. Be fair and empathetic. And hold yourself accountable.

 

 

.*A version of this post by Tressa Robbins originally appeared on September 20, 2022 at https://burrelles.com/ethics-in-public-relations and is cross-posted here with permission. 

Combatting Online Misinformation and Disinformation

How bad is the misinformation and disinformation issue for communicators? Consider this: 70% of Americans say the spread of misinformation online is a major international threat, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. A threat that communicators must prepare for.

If you parse Pew’s survey data by political party affiliation, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say the spread of false information online (75% vs. 63%) is a major threat. However, when communications and PR pros combat misinformation and disinformation, the key is to avoid making it a partisan right or wrong issue. The more inclusive you make the dialogue, the more empathy and trust you create.

Last year’s Edelman Trust Barometer revealed “an epidemic of misinformation and widespread mistrust of societal institutions and leaders around the world.” So, it’s not like this is a new problem, yet it seems to be getting worse.

As I previously wrote, “in this post-truth era, when misinformation (fake news), disinformation, propaganda, and deep fakes are an everyday concern, ethics are paramount to earning trust.”

Before we get into the role communications and public relations professionals play, let’s begin with some basic definitions:

• Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information.
• Disinformation is deliberately deceptive or harmful information, aka propaganda.
• Mal-information is false but not necessarily with the intention of deception. It’s often based on fact but presented out of context by someone who believes it to be true.
• Fake news typically refers to purely false or made-up information presented as news.^[1] It is “purposefully crafted, sensational, emotionally charged, misleading or totally fabricated information that mimics the form of mainstream news.”^[2] 
  
  *Note that fake news may be in the form of disinformation or misinformation or a combination of the two, and can often even include a few basic truths to make it more believable.

Disinformation in Society

The 3^rd annual Institute for Public Relations (IPR) Disinformation in Society Report was published just a few months ago (in February 2022). In the release, Tina McCorkindale, Ph.D., APR, president and CEO of IPR said, “What surprised us in this year’s survey was the jump in how disinformation is perceived as a major societal issue and the extent to which people believe disinformation affects the election process, mental health, and vaccines.”

One of the report’s key findings is disinformation has a negative impact on society and wellbeing: 71%  said disinformation increases the polarization of political parties, while 63% said it infringes on human rights. It’s somewhat unsurprising that more than half of the respondents (52%) said encountering disinformation makes them feel anxious or stressed.

Another finding that I found particularly interesting is that respondents said politicians (77%) and Facebook (72%) were most responsible for spreading disinformation.

Source

The most trusted sources are also the ones doing the best at combatting disinformation. The report found those sources to be like-minded “people like me” (58%) and local broadcast news (51%).

For providing accurate news and information, mainstream media sources are more considered trustworthy than most social media sites.

Social media misinformation

If you spend any time on social media, you know there’s a problem with both misinformation and disinformation.

Source

A new survey by the United Way of the National Capital Area finds social media misinformation is making Americans less empathetic. 57% said that misinformation on social media has influenced their empathy levels. A further 27% added that they changed their news source due to empathy burning out. Interestingly, respondents from all generations agreed that Facebook was the most important social media platform contributing to empathy burnout —except Gen Z.

Many big tech companies and social media platforms — including Facebook-owner Meta, Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Amazon-owned Twitch, Clubhouse and TikTok — have all signed on to the European Commission’s (EU) updated ‘Code of Practice on Disinformation’. The EU Code aims to increase enforcement action against concerted efforts to mislead users through various types of online manipulation. The signatories “have agreed to a series of commitments and to undertake specific measures to address concerns linked to this type of potentially harmful (but non typically illegal) online content,” according to TechCrunch.

In the US, multiple pending pieces of legislation would do something similar. However, when and if any of those will make it into law or regulations is unknown.

So, what’s a communicator to do?

Without a designated authority assuring that online information remains factual, accurate, and isn’t harmful to people, it’s up to communications and PR pros to combat.

Misinformation is rampant on social media, and many organizations and brands find themselves under attack through misinformation, disinformation, and fake news campaigns. These kinds of crises have become all too common.

Bad information can damage a brand or organization very quickly. In some cases, it may blow over just as quickly; however, it can cause long-lasting reputational damage and reportedly costs businesses billions of dollars annually. I’d like to throw the old adage ‘all PR is good PR’ under the bus here. That is certainly not the case!

Never underestimate the power, speed and proliferation of online and social media!

Here are some steps PR and communications professionals can take to mitigate the potential damage.

Be prepared. Phil Singer, the founder and CEO of Marathon Strategies said, “Businesses need to be prepared for a potential attack or risk being caught off-guard…Before a crisis even arises, companies should conduct a comprehensive audit that includes potential adversaries and the company’s vulnerabilities, as it’s important to understand what threat could be used by bad actors. They should use consistent messaging, driven by one dedicated team, to ward off potential disinformation campaigns and mitigate any damage should one materialize as mixed messages can sow more chaos,” in a PR Week article.

Being prepared means creating a crisis communications action plan for multiple scenarios. Identify who will do what and when, how, and where they will do it.

Monitor the news and social media for mentions of your brand. Vanessa Otero, the founder and CEO of Ad Fontes Media, said “Knowing the reliability and bias levels of the particular publications your client gets covered in is crucial to understanding how to respond appropriately. Independent third-party tools are available that provide such data about news and political publishers. Many PR pros already use tracking and listening tools to stay on top of media and social media mentions of their clients, but knowing more about the source of those mentions can help you respond in the most intelligent way possible,” in a PRSA article.

Respond quickly and factually. Crisis expert Molly McPherson, APR, told me, “Minimizing online reputational damage comes with speed, not perfection. The first step in countering misinformation that is spreading rapidly online is to refute it unequivocally with indisputable facts and data. On social media, add a response in the reply feature with as few words as possible since a wordy reply can look defensive and prolong the process. Add a properly-vetted response to your own accounts to stop the spread for good.” Molly is the author of Indestructible: Reclaim Control and Respond with Confidence in a Media Crisis and host of the Indestructible PR podcast.

Be sure to communicate what’s happened and what actions are being taken with your internal audience. And don’t be afraid to tap your employees, brand ambassadors and any other ‘loud voices’ to help spread your response and correct the bad information.

Respond across as many channels as possible. Roshni Wijayasinha, the founder and CEO of Prosh Marketing, said “Misleading statements need to be dealt with swiftly, and accurate information needs to be communicated across as many channels as possible, and sometimes multiple times, to help control the spread. Leveraging facts and data to support the newly updated message can also help customers accept it,” in a Forbes Council article.

Of course, every case is different, and your actions should be based on the situation at hand. Ask yourself, what is the level of urgency? Is the problem likely to spread? How is it being spread (via social media)? Has it resulted in media coverage?

Regardless, sitting back and hoping it will blow over is not a strategy!

Conclusion

Looking beyond brand or organization reputational risks, think about your professional and personal integrity. In a recent CommPRO.biz article, Helio Fred Garcia, president of Logos Consulting Group, reminds us all that “Silence in the presence of misinformation [especially those] that risks life, health, safety, and civic order is complicity.”

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.*A version of this post by Tressa Robbins originally appeared on June 28, 2022, at https://burrelles.com/combatting-misinformation-and-disinformation-in-the-post-truth-era/ and is cross-posted here with permission. 

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^Footnotes

^{[1] https://www.allsides.com/blog/what-fake-news
[2] Fake News: Understanding Media and Misinformation in the Digital Age, MIT Press}

Ethics in PR Matters—Especially Now

Trust and ethics go hand-in-glove, and in today’s disrupted environment, they aren’t just important; they are crucial.

So what exactly is “ethics”? The Merriam-Webster dictionary states, ethics plural in form but singular or plural in construction: the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation. A set of moral principles: a theory or system of moral values. A guiding philosophy.

September is Ethics Month for two of the largest public relations member organizations — PRSA and PRCA. In full disclosure, I’m a member of both organizations.

Here in the U.S., you may be familiar with PRSA but not so much with PRCA as they are based in the U.K. The Public Relations and Communications Association is the world’s largest professional PR body with more than 35,000 PR professionals in 70 countries. All PRCA members are bound by a professional charter and codes of conduct. You can review the PRCA Professional Charter here, which includes a definition, rules of conduct, as well as arbitration and disciplinary procedures.

You can review the PRSA Code of Ethics here, which has recently been expanded to include guidance and examples of unethical situations. PRSA states, “Ethical practice is the most important obligation of a PRSA member.”

Nearly every professional PR and communications organization has a code of ethics — PRSA, PRCA, NSPRA, PR Council, IPRA, PRIA, Institute for PR, Global Alliance, ICCO, IABC, AMA, etc. Many other professional organizations also pledge to abide by a certain ethical standard. Even private companies, publicly-held corporations, non-profit organizations, and educational institutions have standards to which they hold their employees or members. Enforcing these values is essential.

Ethics and competence are the two distinct attributes to trust, according to the 2020 Trust Barometer Global Report. Of the two, ethics wins by far. The report showed that ethical drivers are a whopping three times more important to a company’s trust than competence.

The general public’s view of the PR industry, however, is not so rosy. The 2018 USC Annenberg Global Communications report on the Evolution of Ethics showed that in the U.S., 57% viewed PR as somewhat or very unethical—higher than the 44% internationally. On the plus side, 75% of students say ethics play a very or extremely important role in their choice of PR as a career.

Students and young professionals involved with PRSSA (the student affiliate of PRSA) believe ethics is the underlying principle upon which all great PR lessons are based, per a recent story in PR Daily.

Today, there is hyper-awareness of corporate, brand and organizational ethics — just spend a few minutes on Twitter to see!

Salesforce’s State of the Connected Customer Report says, “trust has always been foundational in customer relationships, but it’s a more nuanced subject in an era where customers expect transparency, authenticity, and ethics.” Seventy-three percent of customers say trust in companies matters more than it did a year ago, and yet 54 percent say it’s harder than ever for companies to earn their trust. As a matter of fact, nearly 70 percent of both consumers and business buyers say they won’t buy from companies with poor ethics. That in itself should tell you why this is so critical now.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a spotlight on the value of PR as people look to companies and organizations to communicate the current reality ethically. Even when the truth is somber and difficult, you must present the facts with a strong front — while being honest and empathetic.

Good ethics can’t be simply willed into existence; it must be practiced —and enforced. If you are disingenuous, it will come out, and you’ll find yourself and your organization neck-deep in controversy and speculation, and be forced into a reputational crisis communication situation.

As Martin Waxman said in a story for Spin Sucks, “If we want to build trust with audiences, transparency, truthfulness, and ethics are all we have.”

And last week, PR Council president, Kim Sample, said in an interview with PRNEWS, “Your reputation and commitment to ethics are the most important things you will carry with you in this field.”

In a time when fake news, disinformation (purposeful intent to mislead), misinformation, propaganda, and deep fakes are an everyday concern, ethics are paramount to earning trust. And, as the data reflected, trust has never been more important than now.

 

.*A version of this post by Tressa Robbins originally appeared on September 29, 2020, on the Burrelles Fresh Ideas blog at https://burrelles.com/ethics-in-pr-matters-especially-now and is cross-posted here with permission.